Isolation

The United States is the only country that still has an ambassador in Tegucigalpa. All of the Latin American countries, and the European Union countries recalled their ambassadors after the coup. In recent days, both the EU and many Latin American countries have agreed to restore their ambassadors at the request of the OAS to help mediate a solution to the Honduran political crisis.

The de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti, in a national broadcast ("en cadena nacional", like our emergency broadcast network, but used daily by the de facto regime) announced that ambassadors returning must ask permission of his Foreign Minister, Carlos Lopez Contreras, and be accepted in order to enter the country. The attempt here is to be able to say that these countries have "recognized" the de facto regime by having solicited permission to send their ambassadors back.

I don't anticipate that any country will actually do this. Ambassadors don't, as a part of protocol, have to ask permission to come to the country, but rather, formally present their credentials to be recognized once in the country. In this case, no re-credentialing is called for so I would expect the ambassadors to simply show up to return to their posts.

The de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti also took steps overnight to isolate itself even further from International mediation. Micheletti announced that the ambassadors of Spain, Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela would not be allowed to return to their embassies in Tegucigalpa. These are countries that, at the request of Manuel Zelaya's government, rejected ambassadors loyal to the de facto government and ordered them to leave their countries. In addition, as Oscar Arias noted on friday, the de facto government is preventing the arrival of the OAS ministers. These steps serve to isolate the de facto government from what it called foreign meddling.

Honduras has traditionally resolved political crises by face to face personal negotiation between the agrieved parties. Its always been done this way, so maybe the reports that the first meetings have taken place between formal representatives of the de facto government and Zelaya offer hope that they are trying to work towards a traditional Honduran solution.

UPDATE 1 PM PDT: Telesur reports that diplomatic sources indicate that the de facto government denied permission to enter the country to two OAS functionaries sent to set up the OAS visit, and two from the Spanish embassy in Tegucigalpa.